|
| I recently bought a home with a 25 year old Superior fireplace. It's a regular wood-burning unit. There's a sliding lever on the left side of the fireplace, behind the glass towards the bottom. It's a vertical lever with the label "Open" above it. I presume this is some kind of vent, such as to allow warm air to circulate around the back and sides.
Anyone else have something like this that can give a definitive answer on what it this lever is used for? |
Follow-Up Postings:
|
- Posted by green-zeus (My Page) on Fri, Sep 7, 07 at 11:01
| Or does it mean opening the damper? That seems to make more sense, but it's only a guess. |
|
| That sounds logical, doesn't it? The damper is actually opened by a lever directly above the fire. I guess the best thing to do is start a fire with the lever in the lowered position, which is where it already was, then pull it to the upper position. There *are* vent slots above and below the glass doors. You know what they say about the simplest explanation being the most likely? ;-) This gives me good reason to clean the ashes out that I've been putting off. |
|
- Posted by green-zeus (My Page) on Sat, Sep 8, 07 at 11:24
| LOL. Well, open the door on it, turn the lever to "open", light a match and see if it blows the flame out and sucks the smoke upward. If it does, you know that "open" means to open the damper. You don't want to build a fire with the damper closed or the smoke will come into the room. The way to build a fire is to open the damper, light the fire,and close the door but leave it open a crack to fan the fire. Once you get it going good, close the door. If you get a lot of smoke build-up, crack the door again. You usually have to get some hot coals before you can really close the door. By the way-----you never know how well the last homeowner took care of this fireplace. It would be a good idea to have the flue inspected/cleaned before you use it so that you know the condition of it. |
Please Note: Only registered members are able to post messages to this forum. If you are a member, please log in. If you aren't yet a member, join now!
Return to the Fireplaces Forum
Instructions
- You must be a registered member and logged in to post messages on our forums.
- Posting is a two-step process. Once you have composed your message, you will be taken to the preview page. You will then have a chance to review the contents and make changes.
- After posting your message, you may need to refresh the forum page in order to see it.
- It is illegal to post copyrighted material without the owner's consent.
- HTML codes are allowed in the message field only.
- No advertising is allowed in any of the forums.
- If you would like to practice posting or uploading photos, please visit our Test forum.
- If you need assistance, please Contact Us and we will be happy to help.